


just what it is

by forever_and_always



Series: where the heart is [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: (two 16 year olds fighting), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Concussions, Foster Care, Gen, Group Homes, Kid Fic, M/M, Mild Language, Neil Josten Is an Idiot, Protective Andrew Minyard, Teen Pregnancy, sports related injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 16:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12236616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forever_and_always/pseuds/forever_and_always
Summary: During a game, Neil makes a choice no one is pleased with. Now he has to deal with the consequences---Or: Neil always finds a way to injure himself, Andrew is slightly over-protective, and a glimpse into domestic chaos.





	just what it is

**Author's Note:**

> This part takes place a few weeks after "a place to rest your head" 
> 
> All mistakes are mine. My usually betas were out for the count today, but I wanted to post this asap.  
> Edit 10/3 mistakes have been fixed. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Neil knew it was a reckless decision the moment threw his body into motion towards the giant of a linebacker he knew he couldn’t take the action back. Andrew’s voice sounded clear in his head, calling him an idiot, and Kevin was there too with a disappointed rant. But Neil wasn’t going to regret his choice. It was late in the second half of the game and his team was down. Something had to be done. 

Neil heard a loud crack as he made contact with the larger player. Then came the feeling of weightless falling and landing abruptly against the solid surface of the court floor. A sharp burst of pain flared out from the back of Neil’s head, and he was plunged into complete darkness as if someone had switched off the light. 

When he managed to pry his eyes open, against the will of his throbbing headache, there was an angel standing over him. A vaguely familiar looking angel with short hair and a cross hanging from her neck. A halo of light surrounded her head and it was making his headache worse. 

She smiled at him with a sweet smile. “Good. You’re awake!” Quickly she left his line of sight and returned with someone wearing pale blue scrubs. A nurse. Neil was in a hospital then, one of his least favorite places to be. 

The nurse came over to the side of the bed he was laying in. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked. 

“I’m fine."

The nurse looked unimpressed with his answer. He’d been in worse pain before. 

“What’s your name?” 

“Neil.”

“Do you know know where you are?”

“A hospital.”

“What was the last thing you remember?” 

“I, uh, tried to check a player on the other team? I think I hit my head.” 

“Yes,” the nurse replied. “The initial impact dislocated your shoulder, but you fractured your clavicle and gave yourself a pretty mild concussion when you fell.” 

A concussion explained the headache, and with a quick glance down, Neil noticed his arm and shoulder were splinted in a to keep it immobile. Concussions were serious, he’d dealt with one before, but with the added fracture he was going to be out for at least a few months. 

“Do you need anything, Neil?” the nurse continued. 

If he didn’t focus on the pain, it didn’t hurt that badly. “No, I’m okay.” 

“Well, we’ll need to keep you for a little longer to make sure your concussion symptoms don’t get any worse. Your agent and someone from the team has already contacted us about your status, so as soon as it’s time, you can go home with Mrs. Renee here.” 

Neil nodded, and the nurse stood up and started for the door. 

“Oh,” she said. “Someone brought your things from the locker room in for you. They’re in the chair tight over there.” She pointed to the chair next to where the other woman, Renee, was sitting. 

Now he was left in the room with just Renee, but at least he had figured out why she looked so familiar. Neil thought she was a former Fox and Andrew’s old partner in goal.

“Renee Walker?” he asked. 

“Hi, Neil,” she replied, her smile still soft. 

“What are you doing here?” Her presence made Neil confused and it wasn’t because of the concussion. Out of all the people to show up in the hospital room, Neil would have never picked her to come. They only ever interacted in passing during the handful of games they played against each other. 

“Andrew sent me to take you back to his house.”

“I’m not going back to my apartment?”   


“No, the doctor and nurses said you shouldn’t be left unsupervised for long periods of time in your current state. You also only have one hand to use at the moment, and that’s not easy for anyone to deal with.”

Neil was pretty sure he could have managed on his own. But if he wanted to get back on the court sooner, he wasn’t about go against orders and risk being benched longer. He would be out for months alone just from the concussion. 

“Wait,” Neil said next, “Andrew set this up?”

“Everyone watching the game saw you fall and be taken off the court unconscious. Then, I got a call from Andrew, and he told me to pick you up and bring you back, and that everything else was already taken care of. I assume he wanted to come himself, but I know Robin had the night off.”

Renee looked she knew something more about their conversation than Neil was understanding. He still couldn’t quite get past the idea of Andrew being so willing, and apparently insistent, that Neil come to him. It had been almost two months since Neil’s first visit to the house, and he hadn’t been able to find time to visit since then. He had been exchanging messages with Andrew though, whenever Neil remember he had a phone to send a text or when Andrew would decide to respond back. 

Neil went quiet when he head throbbed a bit too painfully, but he still needed more information from the Fox. 

“How did you manage to get in my room?”

Renee shrugged. “I said I was family.”

“We look nothing alike.”

“I don’t think that matters sometimes.” 

He felt too exhausted to argue. Renee must have seen it too. 

“It’s pretty late, and if they’re not going to release you tonight, I can go to your apartment and pack some stuff for you?” she said tentatively. “I need to be putting him down soon for a better night’s sleep anyway.” 

Neil didn’t understand the last part she said until Renee stepped closer and he finally noticed the sleeping, bundled up infant resting close to her chest in a cloth sling. 

“Oh, this is my son, Patrick.” 

Neil thought it was weird to introduce himself sleeping baby so he looked back up at Renee’s face. 

“My keys should be in my bag.” he said. “Don’t forget about my cats, they’ll have to come too.”

Renee smiled again and started gathering up her few personal items. “You’re not worried about a complete stranger having access to all your personal items?” 

Neil wasn’t able to shrug with his arm braced the way it was. “If Andrew trusts you, then I’ll have to trust you too.”

She dug through Neil’s duffle which bore his pro team’s colors and logo until she found his key ring. “I’ll have them call me when you’re about to be released, and I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

With one last smile she bid him goodnight, and Neil was left completely alone. 

  
  
  


Neil didn’t remember falling asleep, but he remembered every time a nurse came in to wake him up. By the time it was light enough outside to be considered morning, he’d been conscious and present enough that although his concussion was still a problem, no one was too worried about Neil doing something to make his head worse. 

The sooner he could get out of the hospital, Neil thought, the better. When a nurse came in with discharge papers, instructions for recovery, and news that Renee was outside to take him home, he tried not to let his relief be too obvious. The same nurse accompanied him out front to the pick up area. She offered to help Neil into the car, but at that he had to politely refuse. 

Renee’s car was small but well-maintained. His bag was thrown in the trunk, and a carrier containing Sir and King sat on the bench seat next to Patrick’s car seat. Neil liked the cozy feeling of it, but was grateful when Renee didn’t make him talk. She only offered him control over the AC and the radio. The silence was more than fine for Neil. He let his eyes drift close under the rocking and the hum from the car’s wheels over the interstate, with the soft sounds of Patrick and the cats relaxing him further into his seat. 

Neil’s eyes snapped open when a car door slammed shut. He noticed they were stopped at a gas station. 

Renee appeared in his peripheral with her son in her arms and stuffed tote bag over her shoulder. “I just need to run inside and change Patrick, do you need anything while in there?” 

“No.” 

“Okay, well, we’ll be to Andrew’s soon.” 

She left Neil alone, and he had the strangest urge to check his phone for new messages. Before showing up to Andrew’s house, Neil was known on his team for being infamously hard to get a hold of by phone. Most of the time it was left to the poor rookies on the team to go to Neil’s apartment to make sure he knew what was going on, even though he was the alternate captain of the team. After seeing Andrew again, though, he tried to be better about checking his messages so he didn’t miss a rarely sent one from the other man. But with his concussion, Neil knew better than to mess with an electronic screen. 

Neil closed his eyes again when Renee got back into the car, finding that it helped keep his slight nausea at bay. 

  
  
  


Andrew was waiting for them when the car made it to the end of the drive way. He stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, Levi standing by his side attempting to mimic the older man’s stance. Dell and Taze were waiting on the porch too, they were off to the side lounging on a shared bench swing. Andrew’s face looked as passive as always, but when Neil caught his eye through the car window, Andrew shifted slightly from one leg to the other just enough for Neil to see. 

The younger boys came down off the porch as the car came to a full stop. Dell and Levi vied for the job of getting Neil’s bag, while Taze went straight for the cat carrier. When Levi lost out to the older of the three boys, he turned to Renee and asked if he could help with something. She smiled sweetly at him and let him carry in Patrick’s diaper bag. 

Neil levered himself out the passenger seat, and when he took a tentative step forward, he was a lot less dizzy than he was expecting to be. Andrew met him at the bottom of the porch steps. 

“I would have thought you’d outgrow your idiocy.” 

“But we still won, right?” 

From their short distance apart, Neil could see Andrew’s gaze study him from bottom to top before finally resting on Neil’s face. “Come inside before you fall over and give yourself another concussion.” 

Neil felt his lips stretch out into a smile, probably looking a little crazed. Carefully he picked his way up the few creaking steps and didn’t comment on Andrew’s hovering presence behind him. 

He opened the door to the sounds of a screaming matching coming from deeper within the house. The moment Andrew heard it, he brushed past Neil almost colliding with a stressed woman rounding the corner towards them. 

“What happened?” asked Andrew. He didn’t sound angry, but he obvious he wasn’t happy with the situation either. 

The woman was short and looked a few years younger than him and Andrew. “I don’t know. They were fine, just making lunch in the kitchen, when I left to help Taze find a litter box. Then the yelling started, and I’m afraid they might start fighting.” 

Andrew let out a short, controlled breath and stalked off in the direction of the kitchen with the newest familiar woman trailing quickly behind. Neil followed at a much slower pace. 

Inside the kitchen was chaos. Andrew stood in between Cecil and Missy, who were the sources of the yelling, keeping them from starting a physical fight. Renee with her son pressed tightly to her chest was near the rear entrance to the kitchen trying to gently coax a paralyzed Taze from the room. Neil could recognize the silent fear in his eyes all too well. The other woman had a hand on Dell and Levi to keep them away from the escalating argument. 

“Why do you have to ruin everything?”   


“Me? Ruin everything? I think you need a mirror to be reminded how much of a fucking asshole you are.” 

“I was perfectly fine until you had to come around and make me mad.”

“If anyone has a reason to be mad here, it should be me. I’m the one that has to put up with your shit all the time.” 

“Stop,” said Andrew. He looked the calmest in the room. 

“There’s a reason you have no friends.”

“Yeah, well there’s a reason why everyone thinks you’re a loser and a freak.”

“Stop. Now.”

Neil didn’t want to know what would happen if Andrew had to repeat his words for a third time. 

Cecil turned his anger towards Andrew. “Can’t you see that she’s being a bitch?” His voice harsh, and his face flushed with angry. “All she does is cause problems, and nobody here even likes her. You’d be better off dead.” 

Missy reached for the closet thing on the counter next to her, but Andrew’s hand shot out and gripped her wrist so tightly she dropped whatever was in her hand before Neil could see what it was. In retaliation, Cecil lunged forward though swiftly stopped by Andrew’s forearm. Neil could only be reminded of the man’s incredible reflexes when he made in home in the net of an Exy court.   

“Both of you stop before you do something you regret,” said Andrew.  “Or if you want, I can call Ms. Nolan right now and have you both place somewhere else so this won’t be a problem anymore.” 

Both teenages reeled back at Andrew’s words. 

“Missy, go downstairs and get ready,” he continued, and the girl followed his directions without a complaint. He turned his head towards Cecil. “You are staying here with me.” 

Renee walked over to Neil and gave him Patrick to hold on his hip with his good arm. “I’ll go talk to her,” she said. 

Andrew turned towards the other woman. “Take the younger boys upstairs and make sure they’re okay.” 

She nodded and carefully prodded the three scared looking boys out into the hallway. Her voice was soft as she walked away. 

Finally Andrew came to stand in front of Neil. Patrick was squirmy in his arm. “Oh, Neil.” he said. “Stop looking so dumb and go find some place to sit. And don’t drop the baby.”   
  
  


 

Neil found Sarah wrapped up in a quilt in the den. The TV show she was watching was nearly muted, and an opened book lay forgotten beside her. It took a second to realize she hadn’t been in the kitchen for the fight. 

“Oh, you’re here already,” she said when she noticed Neil standing in the doorway. “Are they done yelling at each other yet?”

Neil nodded and sat down on the couch next to the teenager, making sure to keep a respectable distance from her and settling Patrick comfortably on top of his legs and away from his arm in the sling. 

“I’m still not sure why I’m here at all,” said Neil. 

Sarah shrugged. “Andrew’s like that sometimes. In the few months I’ve been here, I’ve learned to trust him with things like this.”

“What do you mean by things?”

“I don’t know...helping people? Missy has bad anger management problems, and Cecil has a lot of abandonment issues that come out in weird ways. They fight a lot, but that’s what happens when you put a bunch of messed up kids together in one house. From what I know, you're just like the rest of us.” 

This was the most Neil had ever heard her speak, but what she was saying was true. 

“Andrew’s usually really good about preventing fights from happening. More so now that he has Renee around helping him and Robin.”

“Who’s Robin?” asked Neil. 

“Didn’t you just meet her?” replied Sarah. Neil guessed she was talking about the woman he didn’t recognized. “She had the day off when you visited, and she helps Andrew run the group home since officially you can’t have just one person working at a time. I think they used to play Exy together, or she was the goalie after Andrew. It was something like that.”

Neil smiled internally at the thought of the past untouchable Andrew Minyard keeping former Foxes around to help him. 

In the quiet of the den, Patrick sat contently propped up against Neil and made a game out of trying to stick Neil’s fingers in his small mouth to gum on them. Neil caught Sarah glancing not so subtly at the infant, and he remember that Andrew telling him she was pregnant. The girl looked like she wanted to say something, parting her lips and then resealing them in a frown. Neil wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was thinking about. 

Eventually Sarah settled on, “how long are you staying?” 

“I don’t know. No one’s telling me anything.”

“If you’re still here in a few weeks,” she said, pulling the quilt tighter around her shoulders, “then you’ll get to meet Madelyn. And if you want anything to happen between you and Andrew, you’ll need to get on her good side.”

Neil wasn’t quite sure how to respond to her words. “What do you mean ‘between you and Andrew’? There’s nothing going on.” 

Sarah’s soft laughter filled the air, and it was a surprising strange sound. She didn’t look like the type of person who laughed a lot. “Trust me, I’m a teenage girl, I know flirting when I see it. I like Andrew, and I want like you too, and someone in this house deserves a goddamn happy ending.” 

He concurred. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I meant to get this out sooner, but I forgot how much time I don't have when the semester starts. 
> 
> Next up: Neil finally meets Madelyn? Tragic backstories are unlocked? 
> 
> Anyway thanks for reading! I have a lot planned out for this series, but if there's something you might like to see, don't be afraid to ask. I'd love to know what everyone thinks, and as always, comments are greatly appreciated! You can find me @moonywaitup on tumblr and feel free to come cry with me.


End file.
